


Your Hands In My Sweater

by Parker_Haven_Wuornos



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Melancholy fluff, Multi, Prompt Fic, Relationship Negotiation, Sharing Clothes, Tumblr Prompt, that's a thing now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23210821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parker_Haven_Wuornos/pseuds/Parker_Haven_Wuornos
Summary: The first one is given. The second is lost. The third and fourth are stolen.The real question is whether or not Duke wants them back.
Relationships: Duke Crocker/Audrey Parker/Nathan Wuornos
Comments: 21
Kudos: 65





	Your Hands In My Sweater

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gendernoncompliant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gendernoncompliant/gifts).



> Inspired by the prompt "Okay, where did all my sweaters go?" which the lovely Ashe sent to me on tumblr. Feel free to find me on there (@Parker-Haven-Wuornos) if you'd like to send a prompt!

The first one, he gave away. He hadn’t meant it as a permanent thing, but after a particularly unfortunate trouble had ended with Audrey taking a dip in the Atlantic in September, Duke had handed over his sweater willingly. She was shaking, face streaked with mascara, soaked to the skin, much like she had been when he’d first seen her. 

He’d been caught from that first second, and so, all these months later, when she stood in the puddle created by her dripping hair and clothes, Duke pulled his sweater off without hesitation and handed it over. 

He wasn’t bothered when she didn’t return it the next day, or even the day after that. Cold like that lingered in your bones—he knew that better than most— so maybe she needed it for the next couple days. 

After three days, he’d wondered if maybe she was getting it cleaned, and thought about telling her that she needn’t have bothered. 

By week two, he was resigned to never seeing that sweater again, which was really rather sad because he’d bought it in Argentina and didn’t think he’d be able to get another one any time soon. 

He was left, however, with the memory of how Audrey had looked in it, small and flushed pink while he plied her with cups of coffee until she began to approach a healthy temperature. That had almost been worth losing one of his favorite sweaters. 

The second one disappeared from his truck. He’d had it in there one day when he was driving around town with Nathan, chasing yet another trouble, the location of which kept changing. They’d been everywhere across town, and had nothing to show for it. As the day had worn on, it had gotten warmer, something that rarely happened this time of year. Duke had stripped the sweater off and rolled up his sleeves, leaving it in the backseat. When he’d gone back out the next day to get it, it wasn’t there. This was another favorite, thick and warm but not too heavy, handmade by an old friend Duke had fallen out of touch with. 

He didn’t figure out where it was for a week. The whole time he’d assumed that he’d left it at one of the houses they’d checked, and that maybe it would turn up at some point. 

His bartender was the one to tip him off. Nora was nice, and Duke would hesitantly call her a friend, but her tragically long-distance relationship with her girlfriend led to her latching onto other relationships. Duke’s in particular. 

“So, you and Nathan, huh? You know I always knew it, I mean, you try to play it close to the chest, but neither of you are good at subtlety.” 

“Nora… what the  _ hell _ are you talking about?” 

“Uh, Nathan Wuornos? The guy you’re dating?” 

“I’m not… I’m not dating Nathan.” 

Nora snorted and went back to polishing glasses. “Right, of course.” 

“No, really. Nathan and I are not dating, why would you think that?” 

“Well, the way you look at him for starters, but you also look at that blond tourist like that too so—” 

“Audrey isn’t a tourist.” 

“Whatever. Anyway, I kinda always suspected, but I didn’t know for sure until I saw him at the grocery yesterday. He was wearing your sweater.” 

“What?” 

In some ways, it made sense. Nathan had been in the car when Duke had taken the sweater off. In other ways, namely that they were talking about Nathan Wuornos, whose sense of style began and ended with too many layers and then a jacket, it made no sense of all. 

Why would Nathan take his sweater? Duke didn’t want to be rude, but it wasn’t like the guy got cold. Hell, Duke knew for a fact that he had a post-it note on his door reminding him that he needed to wear jackets if it was below a certain temperature. It would be the last thing on Nathan’s mind in the middle of the day when he was already dressed.    
What use could he have for Duke’s sweater? 

“Uh, you in there boss?” Nora waved her hand in front of Duke’s face. 

“Are you sure it was mine?” He asked stupidly. 

Nora looked confused. “Yeah? The blue one with the little white pattern on it? You wear it all the time.” 

“Right.” So that was where it had gone. 

Suddenly, Duke didn’t want it back quite as badly. He found that, with the image of Nathan casually walking around town in  _ his _ clothes in his head, he didn’t need it anymore, he was plenty warm. 

He didn’t mention it to either of them at first. He wasn’t planning on saying anything, but every once in a while it occurred to him that he could. For once he was the one with words left unsaid, a role they usually reserved for themselves, and he found there was some power in it. Time went on, and he kept his thoughts to himself. 

When he showed up at Audrey’s apartment early one morning, she was wearing it over her pajamas, he almost called her out, but she looked almost comically small with it wrapped around her, and it was a chilly morning. She needed it. 

He never saw Nathan wearing it in person, but apparently Nora shared Nathan’s shopping habits, so she managed to sneak a quick picture of Nathan wearing it in the cereal aisle early one morning, and sent it to duke with a little heart emoji, which Duke ignored. 

In fact, he found that he actually liked thinking about them wearing his sweaters, as if it was a way to help them when he wasn’t around them. 

Losing two sweaters to them was okay. They deserved something soft and cozy, and the fact that they were taking comfort in something that was his? Well, he didn’t have to think too hard about that, but whenever he did he found himself smiling. 

But then an investigation took them out to the islands surrounding their odd little town, and no one knew those islands quite like Duke, and anyway, he was the one with the boat, so of course he helped them. 

This time, helping them meant living with them on the  _ Rouge  _ for five days. Sleeping arrangements were awkward. He had a guest room, technically, but it wasn’t something he usually subjected his friends to. They took to sleeping in his bed in shifts, but Audrey never paid attention to the schedule and would fall asleep in the bed, regardless of whose turn it was. 

That had been hard enough, waking up next to her. But then climbing carefully out of his bed for his morning coffee to find Nathan on the deck, wearing Duke’s sweater and looking completely at ease, that was more than Duke wanted to handle. 

But he didn’t mention it. 

He sat next to Nathan and they didn’t say anything while they shared a pot of coffee and waited for Audrey to wake up so they could continue their work. 

When they finally got home, Duke noticed that two more sweaters had mysteriously vanished, both ones he’d worn on their excursion. 

He could let go of two, knowing that both of them used and liked them, but four was too many. It was, he decided, finally time to say something.

It was late when he walked into the police station. Audrey and Nathan were the only ones there, both staring at paperwork he didn’t think they’d ever finish filling out. 

“Okay, where are all my sweaters?”

They both looked up, faces dumbfounded. 

“What?” Nathan asked. 

Duke smiled at them, strangely endered by their inept attempt at denial. “Come on, don’t make me file a report. What did you do with them?” 

Audrey looked at Nathan. “You too?” She asked.    
Nathan nodded slowly. “They smell nice.” 

Duke had no idea how to begin processing that sentence, so he didn’t. “I just need them back. Where did you put them.” 

“They’re at home,” Audrey said after a minute of internal debate. “But I don’t want to give them back.” 

“Guys, I don’t have that many. Give them back.” 

“One’s in my truck,” Nathan admitted. “You can take that one.” 

“I’m not taking it,” Duke grumbled, ignoring the little rush of pleasure that Nathan was driving around with his sweater. Did he put it on as soon as he got into the car? “It’s mine.” 

“I’ve had it for ages,” Nathan said. “You never noticed.” 

“I noticed,” Duke said, finally letting some of the warmth he was feeling slide into his tone. 

Nathan noticed. Maybe it was his trouble-enhanced hearing, or maybe the years they’d known each other, but Nathan knew how to read Duke’s tone. He didn’t always use the skill, but had it. 

He was using it now though, and Duke saw the barest flicker of a smile, which meant Nathan was really happy about something. 

That brought another sweep of warmth into his chest. 

Audrey was watching them, eyes sharp. She must have known that she’d missed something, one of the careful shifts that always happened between Duke and Nathan, and she was waiting to see what direction they’d be falling. 

“I don’t want to give it back,” She said carefully, and he wondered if she felt like he did, barely daring to hope that they were talking about the same thing, wrapped in warm, woolen metaphors. 

“I don’t either,” Nathan admitted. “But that one stopped smelling like you.” 

He was hot now, his palms sweaty. “Should give it back then,” Duke said, stumbling just slightly over his words. 

“What if it gets cold?” Audrey asked. “We’ll need them.” 

“Won’t I need them too?” Duke asked. He didn’t say  _ More than Nathan _ but he thought about it. Nathan wouldn’t know that it was cold, and Duke knew for a fact that Nathan ran warm, that when they’d been younger and less tense around each other, Duke had leaned into him and absorbed his heat while they sat on the beach late at night. 

No, Nathan didn’t need sweaters as much as Duke did, but he didn’t want to remind them of that. 

“Sounds like we all need them,” Nathan said, his mouth quirked just slightly upwards. “Maybe we should share.” 

Audrey had suggested that once, that they should share. Even then, Duke hadn’t really thought she was talking about the sled. Nathan wasn’t usually one for complicated metaphors, but Duke knew him. He knew what he was trying to say. 

“I might be able to work with that,” He said. 

Audrey’s cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright and hopeful. They’d been buried in troubles lately, and sometimes it felt like clouds were rolling in, from the sea, approaching the town and ready to do damage, but when she smiled, god, it was like watching the sun come out. 

He would, he knew, do anything, deal with anything, if it meant seeing her smile like that more often. He might, possibly, even be willing to give up on his prized knitwear. 

“We should go back to my place,” Audrey said. “So you can get your sweaters.” 

“We’ll take my car,” Nathan said. “There’s already one in there.” 

“What about the other one?” Duke asked. 

Nathan smiled. “We can go to my place tomorrow.” 

The sky was gray above them, the first hint of winter nipped at the back of his neck, but he was standing between them, and given the tentative arrangement they’d barely begun discussing, he doubted he would have any difficulty keeping warm. 


End file.
